
Class _5=t_:^L^/ 
CpipghtS" ^Af- . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



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Petals of Love 
For Thee 








by 



^' ^r^' Edith Hall Orthwein 








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New York City ' Dodge Publishing G). 

Copyright, 1 904, by Dodge Publishing Co. 









LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two GoDies Received 

MAY 20 1904 

CoDyrl^ht Entry 



Copyright, 1904 
by Dodge Publishing Co. 






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^Illustrations 

from Water Color Sketches by 

W. H. Cuthbertson 



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INSPIRATION 

Y heart gave birth unto a thought 
So rare and sweet to me, 
I locked it from all curious eyes— 
That none should ever see. 



Ejishrined and hidden with my prayers, 

In secret place apart, 
It bloomed and grew, this child of mine. 

Whom I know— and my heart. 




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LIFE'S FRAGRANCE 

MY flowers renew their sweetness 
With dew at twilight hour ; 
Their tears distil to perfume-^ 
For me, a precious dower. 
Then grief that's mine, be welcome; 

For from my night may grow 
A power to bring nope-fragrance 
To one dear heart I know. 




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S all of life a passion and a show, 

To fret the weary heart until the end ? 
Alone, I li^en for the answer low; 
But will the answer ever come, 

O Friend ? .,,^ 



Is love a bitter, poisoned fruit— a cheat *^^^ 
That draws our taste, then turns the "sweet 
to gall? ^ 

Are never youthful hopes of love to ui^t _, 
And bless old age— is blight the end of^ll ? 











^'^ .. Far diilant spirit, tell my aching heart 
'\ What means this pain— the tears now falling 
fast, 
The chill despairs that through my being dart 
To freeze the pulsing blood that falters pa^? 






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Hush, heart ! A strain of music tempts me on ; 

Along the borderland of sense I drift; 
In soft and potent cadence comes a song, 

And all my soul's despair doth freely lift. 

A soldier, keen, alert, my duty done, 
I march in vigor, full of youthful zeal. 

Nor know the weight of knapsack or of gun, 
Nor care whence comes my re^ or noonday 
meal. 

An angel choir takes up my low sad moan. 
The ^ars join in and sing, with eyes all 
bright, 

Joy-stars, so near to God*s great spotless throne 
They send to earth a chorus or delight. 








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On wi] 



I visit palace homes, 



m wmmpi^mmg. l visit palace homes, 
And far Wrbattle-fields of blood I see 
The heavenly light. And thus my soul ^11 
roams, 
And still life's mystery doth seel^fe^ me. 






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With drawn, thin face and bated, quickened 
breath, 
I wre^le for the angel's boon of grace. 
Why should my hungry soul be starved to 
death? 
Has earth no joy, no peace, no resting-place? 

Within my heart— I find Love's priceless pearl, 
Th' enduring Love, for which I long had 
prayed ; 

And now my bravest banner I unfurl, ^ 
To conquer Fate with only Love for aid. ^> 








A quivering thrill, a pulsing leap of blood 
That forces back on self with feelings dire; 

And I the glorious whole of rapture reap 
In one long bliss of Love's enduring fire. 




Love's voice within hath turned the bitter sweet, 
And kept my reason over all enthroned. 

Love comes : I rise, ah, humbly rise to greet, 
And wonder that I ever alien roamed. 

Love leads, and in his hand is gleaming clear 
With ambient hope, one ^ar to light the way ; 

Love guides, and I content will follow near 
Through life and death, his all-illuming ray I 






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' THE HOLY KISS 



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THOU silent press of lips, I feel thy touch 
Upon my forehead white. Thou 
sacred joy, 
Deep fraught with pure^ dreams of 
love-resped: ; 
Thou soft awakener to love's delight ; 
Sweet singer of its first-heard melody : 

I yield myself to thoughts of thee, and gain, 
By yielding a past bliss one moment mine— 
A past deep thrill, a sylvan dream, a song 
That opened life's true music to my soul. 






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THE BROOK AND THE ROSE 



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LONG ago, a Rose to a Brook did say : 
"Where do you wander, this summer 
day?" 
"Far, far below, where the daisies grow. 
And the waves foam up as white as snow," 
Answered the Brook as it rushed on aglow. 

"Why do you sigh?" again said the Flo\^)Pi 
" Because a sweetness comes from your bSVer 
Like the dew of heaven on thirty grasj^ 
Making me sigh because I must pass "^ir y 
Your loveliness that overhangs the shore. "^ , 

Thus I sigh and would fain linger by.— ^i^. 

For one kiss from your sweet blushing face, I 
would die ! 



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LOVE'S WINE 



j^Y heart is a vase with beauty carved 
From the subtle hand of the artist 
Life- 
A treasure-gift, and all unmarred, 
Tor my dear love in the midst of strife. 



I am filling the vase with love's true wine; 

Sorrow s the fragrant oil to bless, 
Joy— the sparkle that makes divine, 

And thus I gather the grapes to press. 

From each experience here I find 

Fruit that life's suns and rains have fed; 

Elach day but makes— for Fate is kind— 
My wine of love a richer red. 

Thus drop by drop, the nedar sweet 
Qyite fills my vase.— Drink, lover mine ! 

In every draught your own you greet : 
My heart— the vase, my love— the wine. 



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A MINOR REFRAIN 



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HEN your life is a song of sadness, 

All in a niinor key, 
And you feel the stress of the hour 

On your heart bear heavily. 



And it seems as if the angels 
Had forgot the stars to light. 

To guide you through the fore^ 
Of life in your darkest night : 



Then the tiny seed remember 
That lies in the earth alone, 

With nothing gentle near it- 
No song— ju^ the earth*s sad groan. 

When the seed has learned the sorrows 
The dear old earth must bear, 

It will burst into glory of blossom 

That Mother Earth wears in her hair. 



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DESTINY 







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"T AM lonely and sad," sighed a young 

I maple tree. 

X "Ah ! why was I bom — there is nothing 
for me 
But the wind, and the ^orm— *tis all misery." 

Now Nature, fond Mother, did hear that 

young sigh 
And in ^rength brought by seasons did answer 

the cry; 
And, behold, quite forgot was the longing to die. 

"I can sing, for IVe strength, and can shelter 

the weak; 
Now I know God*s wise, wonderful plan, I am 

meek, 
And a ^ill deeper knowledge is all that I seek. " 




X 



IN silence and with tears I seek your heart; 
In noble thought my loving 1 would show; 
All fond ambition mingles with one glow 
Your life and mine : thus lives the better 
part. 
I climb the mountain, where the eagles dart, 
And want you by my side— winged thoughts 

to grow 
Together, and to love*s Elysium go, ^ j-^ 

Wliere none need ever die or ever part. -^ '^ 
Love, take me in your arms, and make me feel 
You see my faith and love in presence reak^ 
I love! ah— let me love— in thought to be x,-^ 
Still creeping onward to your heart, my goal. 
With patience that its greatness gives to me, 
In hope one day to waken in your soul ! 




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HE PANSY 



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A GOLDEN yellow, borrowed from 
the sun; 
A violet*s purple kiss of color won ; 
Rich brown, be^owed where autumn 
leaves caressed; 
Love's whiteness, caught from a sweet maiden's 

breast ; 
And over all the glow of heaven's blue— 
And lo I the Flower of Thought is bom for you. 




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WITH THE ROSES 

* M going to bed with the roses, 
And they will waft me away 
On a pillow of magic perfume, 
Till the mom of a sunshine day. 



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*»»H|^P^ *' 



I ' 11 wake from my tender dreaming, 
Enhaloed with brilliant light; 

And I ' 11 see my rose-leaf pillow 
Borne away in the arms of night. 

I love the day's glad splendor— 
Sun-jewels that ravish the eyes— 

But put me to sleep with the roses 
Aiid the perfume that never dies. 



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YOUR KISS 




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YOUR kiss ! an angel's touch upon my life 
To lead my soul through God*s dark 
forest land; 
His promise— of a home above, beyond 
Life's shadow-way so full of blighted, 
brown, 
Sad leaves and dried, burnt blossoms dark with 
sin. 

A mother's peaceful prayer was hovering near. 
When first your lips met mine ; with breath of 

love 
I seemed to drink a long-forgotten joy, 
;en to me again in that one kiss. 









For wiA^cmrjkiss I entered Flora's land ; 
And there no j^assing bee could sip one drop 
Of sweeten hofc^y— mine was all— all mine ; 




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And there I sat me down to rest amid 
The roses,— petals fraught with love to give, 
And mode^ violets,— all rich with dew 
Of love's new hope. Each smiled me welcoine 
there. ..b^-^ 







Soft grass, my couch— love-touch of Mother 

Earth; 
A creeping vine embraced me, and its leaves. 
Fanning my temples, wafted all my soul 
To raptured silence— with that one sweet kiss. 



True friendship came to live with me that hour. 

I felt it lift the latch and enter soft 

Its home, my heart. *Twas when your kiss 

brought need 
To me that friendship came ; and as the oak— 
That gathers length from heat and cold of 

years- 
It grows into a joy in desert life 
For you.— All this when my lips fir^ clung to 

yours, 
As in that kiss they fain were clinging ^ill! 



Your kiss! the ripple of a wandering ^eam 
That leads to dashing, seething, foaming sea, 
With masterful, all-owning, conquering power! 
Borne on its breast my soul, my brain, my heart, 
My all— throbbed in one glad response; I grew 
In living, panting Ufe a part of it ; 
And, drunk with it, and reveling in each wave 
That reached and held me in great, wondrous 

arms. 
Still yielding, in those under-deeps I found 
A hall of pearl where I could dream and dream 
For aye of your first kiss upon my life. 



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G>uld I but tell what that kiss was to me, 
'Twould be to you as Love's white touch to me— 
Too holy to look on, save in our hearts* 
Most quiet home, hushed from the fretting world ; 
There, in the living out of all the dreams 
Bom in that first pure kiss of utter love, 
Life's meaning, purpose, end— would all be found. 





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A HOPE 

EAUTIFUL yellow rose, 

You entice my thoughts away 
With golden-tinted crown 

Bestowed by the sun's bright ray. 



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In your sun-kissed heart I leave 

A sweet lost hope of mine. 
Rose, will you fold it away ? 

Give it perfume divine ? 
Some day I will ask it back, 

When 1 have ceased from tears; 
And the fragrance that you give 

Will help me through the years. 



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A^ABED ROSEBUD 





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•IS but a faded rosebud- 
Yet means so much to me; 
It speaks of bygone days, - 

And joys that could not be. ^^ 

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The perfume creeps unnoticed \ 

And clings around my heart, .^ 
Until that faded rosebud ^^ 

Is of myself a part. 





j^^its leaves far from me, 
*^^^^^^ffiut still it hovers near. 
^^KreR I be haunted ever 

By hopes long past, though dear ? 








Is fate so harsh and cruel/ 
As aye to keep in sight 

A memory that pains me 
Like pathos or the night? 

To make me love a rosebud 
Whose vanished beauty stings ; 

Or cage a bird from freedom, 
Yet shrink at song it sings? 

Yet leave me not, dear rosebud! 

I'm restless, know not why. 
Keep thy perfume all round me, 

Without thee I would die. 






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ROSEBUD opened her heart one day 
To Love. He entered. The sweet, 

pure Rose 
Bloomed forth in pink and white 
love-glows— 
Gave all herself, and yielding chose 
To ^ew her petals in his way- 
Then Love passed on, nor cared to stay. 

A Woman's heart will open wide 
When once true love has entered there. 
Why should it make her seem less fair 
If she tell her love ? real love is rare ; 
And yet, the Rosebud told— and died : 
Must love forget, when satisfied? 




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THE TEAR-DROP 




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TEAR-DROP fell on a white rose-leaf. 

Where was it bom— that thing of grief? 

It came from the depth of a woman-soul, 

When yearning and pain made known 

their dole. 



The dust of earth once blighted a rose. 
Why did it happen? No one knows. 
Can flowers escape the curse, tho* fair. 
When hearts are broken everywhere? 




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^-4^ ^THE MINISTRY OF LOVE 



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AH Love! thy touch is calm and peace- 
ful now. 
Thou callest forth the best God gives 
to man; 
Thou sendest pulsing passion's healing fire 
On through my weary being, till in one 
Quick throb my soul's true other soul I meet, 




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At thy white feet, O Love, I kneel to pray. 
Thy face but leads to Christ, the Holy One. 
Thou art thus richly blest by His soft robes, 
His trailing kingly garment passing near. 
What can 1 sing, the humble one, who loves 
And worships thee— thy Minnesinger true? 



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All Nature is a garland for thy head ; 
Thus noble is thy brow, beloved one ; 








Thus worthy singing, touch of Autumn's hand 
And Summer's lifting mood to waft thy soul 
To everlasting life; thou'rt one with God, 
Never to know the quiv'ring tide of death. 




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The silence of thy whispering is near; 

I feel the quiet spreading of thy wings; 

Within thy bosom star-ward I may go, 

And in a hovering vision live again, 

The fever of love*s passion holding fast 

My yielding clay. Thine eyes are master now, 

Thine eyes, deep-soft, now big with power glow; 

And at the altar of their truth I lay 

All that I am; and in their shadow-depths. 

Within the spirit of their vision wrapped. 



With soft bared breast I lie within love*s flames, 
And they do not consume ; but kiss my face, 
My bosom's sun-tipped snow, my reaching lips. 
O Love, full of the ripest seasoned bliss, 
In adoration let my soul caress 
Thine ev'ry part, and send thy light abroad 
Through candles gleaming in heart-sanctuary, 
Softly vibrating o*er life's clay benumbed 
And waking souls to love's great harmony- 
Set free to intertwine the whole as one. 



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AUTUMN LOVE 




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AY Springtime loves the young and 
shapely leaves, 
That glow and glisten when he smiles 
their way. ^ 

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Their hearts a-flutter in responsive joy, 
Until the forest seems one instrument, 
Elach string a-tremble with its own sweet song. 
Glad Spring, thy buoyant hope hath magic charm, 
Luring the playful tinted leaves to dance 
And breathe their maiden joy in thy fond arms— 
Forgetting life hath but one spring to live. 




Now Summer comes, a wooer glory-clad — 
His flaming girdle strewn with rubies dark, 
And brow entwined with diamonded wreath, 
His languorous feet in emerald sandals shod, 
And robe of cloth-of-gold inwrought with pearls. 
His leaping heart with passion dire athirst. 
Bold Summer comes, and wins the Spring's love- 
leaves. 
His eyes aflame, and heated perfume breath 
And pulsing blood quick heating through his 

veins, 
He flings himself upon the 3aelding leaves ; 
And passion bums and scars their tender life. 





ssion Summer is a masquerade, 
jh for one moment it transport a soul ; 
plays in life a higher, nobler part, 
^ver leads to realms of ideal grace. 








kufupin splendor, that is love ideal, 
* ^Messing, blending all in one— '^ 
^s and life's fleeting, changing sun, 
^ntil perfection's flower in fruit doth live. 
^N(dw Autumn walks into the forest ^een, 
^Beholds the leaves with modest, drooping heads; 
Their shyness wins him, draws his footsteps near; 
He kisses them and they blush crimson deep. 
The master-thrill of love was in that kiss. 
But Autumn, serious lover-soul, hath seen 
The scar of Summer's passion-breathing there. 
And search for ideal love for hiny||CerA.3M^ 



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He passes on, his heart's love-dream now gone. 
With hope destroyed, what can remain for him 
Save death? Priest Winter comes to close his 

eyes. 
Shrouding his grief with mercy of the snow. 

Not as the searing flame of Summer's fire, 
Comes love, whose glow of passion is soft hid— 
The crimson heart of the great flower of life. 
All unripe love, or love of passion bom, 
Will die, and dying, slay the thing it loves. 
As Summer's passion the poor forest leaves. 
Those fair entnralments of the youthful Spring. 

Let me then live to be a perfect leaf. 
For one to wear within his heart, my home ; 
Let me then dream of near soul-joy when love 
Shall kiss my lips, his heart's ideal to claim. 
Ah love ! thou ripe and mellow touch of God, 
That folds, protects and shepherds me from self- 
Dear Autumn Love, thine arms can reach God's 



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Wi 20 1904 



LIBRARY- OF CONGRESS 

018 348 474 6 «/ 



